Saturday Morning Coffee ☕ Edition #11

If you're dog-tired after a long week, join me for a quiet sip of steaming coffee this Saturday morning. There's plenty to go around.

Canva image.

---

Writers should get paid for doing what they love, which is something few people are truly capable of: entertaining, educating and inspiring others through the written word. Become a paid subscriber to How to Write for a Living for just £8 a month and unlock every article and resource in our archive.

---

☕ Happy Saturday, everyone!

I hope your week’s been fantastic!

If you’re reading this on Saturday morning, it’s highly likely I’m somewhere in the mountains right now, soaked to the skin and wondering for the umpteenth time why I volunteer as a hiking group leader.

(Just kidding - I love it)

You may have noticed a few changes to your Substack dashboard this week (followers are clearly becoming a bigger deal) and I’m curious about what you think:

I’ve started putting my Substack course together. It’ll be perfect for anyone who wants to grow their audience and create a sustainable writing system on the platform. The feedback I received from the survey about it was incredibly useful - thanks again to those who took part.

And finally, a quick update about my upcoming novel: all being well, I should have a release date for The Soulburn Talisman sometime next week. I’m absolutely dying to start sharing more about it with you soon!

The best way to stay in the know about Soulburn and all future fiction pieces is to subscribe to my other publication, David McIlroy Fiction. You can do that right here. 👇

---

A good post:

X/Twitter screenshot.

---

Some interesting thoughts from others:

• Keep climbing toward your publishing dreams by

  Alyssa Matesic

• 9 things to know about yourself so you write more stuff people want to read by

  Alex Mathers

• Want to get a top spot on Substack's Leaderboard? by

  Claire Venus
  and
  Russell Nohelty

• Branding for the Branding-Averse: An Interview with Sara Tasker and Keeley Rees by

  Sarah Fay Writers at Work

• You're Probably Going to Annoy an Agent at Some Point by

  Kate McKean

• Hybrid Publishing Goes Mainstream by

  Brooke Warner

• Writing Books for Netflix, Disney, Lucasfilm, and More by

  Russell Nohelty
  and
  Evelyn Skye

• BookTok 101 by

  Leigh Stein

• How Much Money Can You Make Writing on Medium in 2024? by

  Kristina God

• Writing slowly by

  Julian Simpson

• Everyone's Writing Sounds the Same Now by

  eliza mclamb

• 007: From Digital Marketer to Self-Published Romance Author with Mary Belle by

  Jessica Sorentino

---

This week’s posts:

How To Fall Back in Love With Your Own Writing

Mom, Teacher, and Writer?

---

A little something extra from Medium:

• How to Not Write Absolute Bollocks

• Why Every Author Needs 1 Big Idea

• The 1 Thing That Will Ensure Your Newsletter Survives

---

Thanks for spending this time with me today!

Don’t forget to leave a comment below telling us what you’re up to this glorious Saturday. 👇

Enjoy your weekend, everyone! 😊

---